Pak court orders murder charges against Pak PM

Pak court orders murder charges against Pak PM

Imran ready for 'final match'; Qadri issues 48-hour ultimatum

Agencies

A Pakistan court has ordered framing of murder charges against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz and 19 others over the June violence near Canada-based cleric Tahirul Qadri's headquarters in Lahore that killed 14 of his supporters.

The Lahore Sessions Court hearing the case related to the Model Town clashes ordered police to register a case against 21 persons named by the Pakistan Awami Tahreek in its complaint.

Fourteen PAT supporters, including two women, were killed and over 100 were wounded in deadly clashes with police on June 17 after the authrities attempted to remove barricades near the PAT chief's headquarters.

The court's decision comes at the time when Qadri, also the chief of PAT, and Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaaf chief Imran Khan are rallying in Islamabad with thousands of their supporters demanding the resignation of the Sharif-led PML-N government.

Imran Khan yesterday said he along with thousands of his supporters is ready for a “final match” against Nawaz Sharif who was involved in an “electoral match-fixing”, after Qadri issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the embattled prime minister to resign.

Khan, who led Pakistan to the World Cup victory in 1992, warned the PML-N government that his supporters could enter the high-security Red Zone in Islamabad if Sharif, who has been in power for over an year, refuses to quit.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman said that a final match would be played yesterday which will be decisive day in the history of Pakistan as thousands of opposition demonstrators crowded the streets of the Pakistani capital for a second day.

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Security in Islamabad has been ramped up, with some 30,000 police and other security forces on the streets.

The government has agreed to allow the two groups to hold rallies but many streets have been blocked off with shipping containers to protect sensitive areas.

Both leaders have vowed not to leave the capital until Nawaz Sharif resigns and fresh elections are called.